Mandibular Advancement Appliance

Abstract

A mandibular advancement device for pulling the jaw forward includes upper and lower plastic trays conforming to upper teeth and maxillary dentition soft tissue and palate and lower teeth and mandibular dentition and soft tissue, respectively. A ball type of hook support is located on both sides of the upper tray at a forward position and a plurality of ball type of hook supports are located at a rearward position of both sides of the lower tray. Tension coil springs are fitted to each of the upper tray ball hook supports and to one of the plurality of lower ball type of hook supports. The plurality of lower tray ball hook supports provides discrete levels of tension force of the coil spring on each side of the appliance. A plastic tube may be fitted over the coil springs to prevent injury to the inside of a user's mouth.

1 . An oral appliance for use in advancing a user's lower jaw, comprising:
 upper and lower trays that fit to a user's upper and lower teeth,   a pair of hook supports attached one on each side of the forward portion of the upper tray,   a plurality of ball type hook supports attached to each side of the rear portion of the lower tray, and   a pair of tension coil springs, each spring hooked at one end thereof to the hook support at each side of the upper tray, and hooked to one of the plurality of hook supports at each side of the lower tray,   whereby the spring force of each coil spring on the lower tray may be adjusted by moving the hooked end on each side of the lower tray to another hook support.   
     
     
         2 . The oral appliance of  claim 1 , wherein each hook support comprises a spherical member having a stem extending therefrom, the stem fitting into a corresponding hole in the upper and lower trays. 
     
     
         3 . The oral appliance of  claim 1 , further comprising a plastic sleeve positioned over each of the coil springs. 
     
     
         4 . The oral appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of ball type hook supports comprises four hook supports on each side of the lower tray. 
     
     
         5 . The oral appliance of  claim 1 , wherein coil springs are made of stainless steel. 
     
     
         6 . The oral appliance of  claim 1 , wherein the upper and lower trays are injection molded acrylic members.